Patricia Bailey

More than two years after software mogul Daniel Langlois shocked this city’s cinephiles by shutting down his rep cinema Ex-Centris, two levels of government and the software mogul’s own foundation have reached a deal to save the complex, which houses the venerated Cinema Parallele and two other theaters.

Only a few days after Industry Minister Tony Clement threatened to overturn a CRTC ruling on usage-based Internet billing the government has appointed a political ally as vice-chair of the federal regulator, a move critics say is meant to undermine the body’s authority.

After a few homegrown film d’auteur disappointments at the Quebec box office for Alliance Vivafilm, the Montreal-based distributor will focus on releasing mainstream crowd-pleasers in 2011, says president Patrick Roy.

Montreal filmmaker Xavier Dolan, who will start shooting his third feature, Laurence Anyways, at the end of February, has been nominated for a Cesar Award, the French Oscar, for Les Amours imaginaires (Heartbeats).